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This is a pretty great telephoto lens for the price point. With a low end of 70mm, I still find myself switching back and forth between this lens and the Pentax 18-55mm kit lens that I got with my K200d. That being said, this lens is great for wildlife photography on a budget. It stays sharp almost all the way through its zoom range, and only starts to show some distortion at the far reaches. Chromatic aberration is little to none as far as I can tell. The auto focus is also pretty fast--snapping into place sometimes better than my kit lens with little to no hunting--essential for conditions when you need a long zoom, but can't afford to close down that aperture. The macro feature is good, but can be switched on only once you zoom to at least 200mm. It allows you to get in really tight, but you'll still have to be about 3 feet from your subject at the least. The zoom ring is coated in a soft rubber that has a nice grippy feel that is perfect for a big lens that you'll be zooming a lot. The rest of the lens is a harder plastic, but it still has a rough sort of finish that makes it equally grippy and easy to handle. One problem I had with it is that unlike my kit lens, with which I can manually tweak the focus even when the camera is switched to auto focus, the Sigma 70-300mm seems to keep the servos engaged as long as you have the camera body on AF. Not sure if this is normal, as I only own a few lenses, but I've had to stop myself several times from making manual adjustments with the AF switch on, as I would guess that it could damage the servos. The zoom ring on my lens also sticks a bit at the longer focal lengths, and it has an occasional squeak to it, but I did buy it used, and that may just be natural (or unnatural) wear and tear. The front glass of the Sigma 70-300mm also spins, hence the perfectly cylindrical hood, and that could screw with (no pun intended) any polarizing filter you might have attached. The hood also doesn't seem to click securely into place, but that might again be due to wear and tear from the previous owner. Overall a good lens, but frequent changing from this to my kit makes me want to buy a good 55-300 in the future when I have more cash...Read full review
I use this lens on a Canon Digital Rebel XT (350) and for the money it can't be beat. On the Revel it gives a field of view like a 112mm - 480mm, which is very long for a lens without image stability. At the long end it is important to mount the camera/lens on a solid tripod. If you have to hand hold the lens it is best to use shutter priority with a fast shutter speed (maybe twice the mm setting - i.e. if you are at 300 use at least 1/600 or faster). The lens focuses fairly fast and accurate (less than maybe a second).
Having recently sold one these wonderful lenses. The sellers remorse set in rather quickly. The hunt started immediately for a replacement. Having tested this lens in comparison against the Pentax SMC PENTAX DA 55-300MM F4-5.8 ED I can not decide which is the better lens between the two of them. Sigma came in with a sleeper here and it's one heck of a GREAT lens. My findings in regards to the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro for Pentax AF. Color rendition is spot on with the K-20D, K-10D, and simply spectacular for some reason on the K100-D. The build quality on this lens is simply excellent. This lens solid well built and has velvet like finish on the body. The Glass in my opinion surpasses Pentax SMC which until using this lens has not been surpassed by any other lens manufacturer in my minds eye. Sigma has incorporated a new multi layer lens coating and lens design to reduce flare and ghost, which is a common problem with digital cameras and also creates an optimum color balance through the entire zoom range. This lens has excellent correction of chromatic aberration through the entire zoom range. When comparing the color balance and rendition between the Pentax SMC PENTAX DA 55-300MM and this Sigma lens simply out preforms with clarity and near perfect color. To simplify when viewing an image captured on a monitor This image appears the as if you are viewing it live with the naked eye. Image capture speed is near as perfect several lenses that cost several hundred to a thousand dollars or more. Sports action capture is excellent. Testing this lens while photographing my rather speedy Yellow Labrador in a full speed trot. The stop action of this lens left me longing for an immediate replacement. Macro is very solid and quite expectational throughout its entire range. In closing if you are looking for an excellent rather priced Zoom for your Pentax K DSLR body, This is the one. I can not speak for the Canon, Nikon, and Sony DLSR's and this lens but I would bet that simmilar excellent preformance would be the norm. The Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro is relatively a very low priced Zoom lens at present. My thoughts are when word gets out about this spectacular lens. The price will rise rather rapidly. Sigma came in with a sleeper here and it's one heck of a GREAT fast lens. I rate this lens a 10 out of 10. Highly recommended without any disappointmentsRead full review
The macro setting of this lens is fantastic. The 70-150mm range is good. And the 150-300mm is acceptable on my aps camera. A great budget lens, but if you want more sharpness in the 300mm range, spend your $$$ on better glass.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I am using this Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG lens on a Pentax K100D. Its a solid feeling lens with a good autofocus, good range, and sharp focus. The colors are a little unsaturated but you are able to fix on photoshop. It has that micro grainy feel to the moving of the zoom that is similar to my other Sigma lens. On a sunny day its a good walk around lens, and distant portraits. The bokeh is like a gaussian blur. I was also able to photograph the recent super moon at 300mm and it was sharp. Its a good value if you can find on ebay.